Episode 60 - Abolish ＊ALL＊ of History？ The Rock Buys a Football League With His Ex. The Cancel Culture Claims...Yoga？
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Summary
In this episode of Hot Takes, Congressman Matt Gaetz talks about the return of in-person instruction to public schools, a proposal to abolish all teaching of U.S. History in Illinois schools, and the Democratic Transition Plan.
Transcript
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Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news. The news
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from Dr. Fauci is that students can go back to school. Obviously, we'll need strong sanitation,
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good social distancing, mask wearing where applicable, but the principal reasons that
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the good doctor cites for the need for in-person instruction to begin as an option are the mental
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health and nutrition needs of students, the educational needs of students, and also the
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substantial impact on families that occurs when students are not able to go to school.
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Now, this isn't for everyone. There are students, families, parents with special medical frailties.
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There are teachers with medical frailties, those who might be a little older who need special
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accommodations and assistance, but it's my expectation and hope that school districts will
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be able to align their personnel with the needs of students and communities, and that we'll be able
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to get this part of life back to some semblance of normal to bridge us to the great progress in
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Operation Warp Speed and the development of therapeutics and vaccines.
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Should we just abolish all U.S. history altogether in our schools? That is quite literally the proposal
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now in the state of Illinois from Chicago area State Representative LaShawn Ford. He has put out a
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statement, a press release alongside his proposed legislation to abolish all teaching of history
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in Illinois schools. His argument is that history is not fair to women and minorities and the LGBTQ
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community, that history is a function of white supremacy, of white privilege, and it upholds a racist
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society. He cites the treatment of Native Americans in history and just wants to get rid of it.
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Here's my hot take. America has a challenging history, so do all groups of humans, but I cherish every bit of
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our history, every bit that is glorious and enlightened and unlifting, and similarly every bit that is abhorrent
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and intolerable. Because it's only those intolerable moments in our history that allow us to see that we have to be a
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better version of ourselves tomorrow. If we look back at our history and said we were just as good to one another as
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human beings back then as we are now, then there wouldn't be that drive to improve and be better and be more
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loving and caring and understanding to one another. Abolishing history isn't going to take down white supremacy.
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Abolishing history isn't going to alter history. It's just going to make us naive to it. This is one of the
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dumbest ideas I have ever seen introduced in any state legislature ever. American history should be
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improved. It should have more academic rigor. We should have more context. We should enhance the
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understanding of the values that animated the American Revolution and brought us the greatest society of
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humans that have ever existed on the planet Earth. But no. They want to abolish history and I wonder why
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that is. Because ultimately they want to make us not love this country so that they can replace this
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country with something that looks more like Europe. Something that is socialist. A nation that doesn't
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respect its borders or its people or its economy. That just functions as a virtue signal to the world.
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Well, I am not here for it. I love American history because I love America and we should all fight
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to protect and defend her. In 2016, after Donald Trump won the election, a lot of the establishment
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were surprised, shocked, caught off guard. And I think they quickly developed a hoax of a plan to try to use
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Russia as an illegitimate basis to destabilize the Trump presidency even during the transition, even
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before it began. We're able to see now how people like Susan Rice during the transition were actively
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involved in trying to delegitimize the incoming administration by smearing Michael Flynn. And Joe
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Biden was involved in that effort trying to, you know, torture the Logan Act of all things into some
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sort of prosecutorial basis for an investigation into Flynn. And so one has to ask in 2020, is there
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a similar transition plan by Democrats, never Trumpers, the establishment to try to deprive Trump the
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presidency, even if he wins a fair election by the people? There is a really thorough report from our
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friends at the National Pulse, Rahim Kassam and nationally winners, where they lay out what they
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believe is the democratic transition plan alongside some never Trump Republicans to try to steal a close
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election from Donald Trump. That is the argument that the National Pulse makes. And they expose some of the
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ties of the integrity group, perhaps the inaptly named integrity group. John Podesta, you remember him
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from the Hillary Clinton campaign. Donna Brazile, she was the head of the DNC that was slipping debate
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questions to Hillary so that they didn't have to deal with the populist uprising of Bernie Sanders and
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their movement. Michael Steele, the former head of the Republican National Committee, who has been
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a very, I think, outspoken critic of President Trump. And so what this integrity group purports to do
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is set up a process by which, oh, if Trump were to win and not hand over the reins of power to Joe Biden,
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that they would be there to ensure that the democratic goals of the electorate were upheld.
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It's not what it looks like to me. You know, what it looks like is that in the world where there's a
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close election, like we had in 2016, I mean, while the electoral college was a blowout, let's remember
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Trump won three Rust Belt states by about a point each. And so in a world where there's a close election,
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this integrity group is what the establishment has set up to litigate, to posture, to communicate,
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and to try to really grind down the populist energy that surged Donald Trump to the presidency and that
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I believe is likely to do so again. So keep your eyes on the integrity group. Make sure to check
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out the article in the National Polls. Touchdown Jesus. That's what was the rallying cry, I guess,
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has been the rallying cry for some time at Notre Dame. And if you look at colleges and athletics,
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you see that people of the LDS Mormon faith have really found a home rooting for BYU. People of the
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Catholic faith found a home rooting for Notre Dame. And the vision for Liberty University is that they
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could occupy a similar lane among highly evangelical Protestants. That's largely their donor base,
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it's largely their student base. And so the dream of Jerry Falwell Jr., the current head of Liberty
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University was to expand that athletic program, which he has done, bring it to the highest level
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of competition, which he has done. And that has required a lot of recruiting that Liberty wasn't
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doing before. And a lot of that recruiting has engaged black athletes in those programs on the campus
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and in the academic mission of the school. Brings us to the news. Slate.com is, you know,
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really a left-leaning smear website. And they have now written a smear piece on Liberty University,
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where they chronicle the story of Tankland, one of the highest recruited athletes to find their way
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to Liberty University, one of their football players, a defensive back, and a really bizarre and
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unfortunate. And I would suggest inappropriate interaction he had with a professor where a
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professor said, well, you know, it's not like I'm going to whip you when assigning assignment and
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some tutoring and maybe some enhanced rigor to that educational activity. That's not something you should
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you should say, a white professor to a black athlete. But instead of sort of dealing with that,
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I think in an appropriate context, you see it emerge in the era of this heightened racial sensitivity to
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an over-broad critique of Liberty as somehow a racist institution where people of color shouldn't feel safe.
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One of the reasons this matters is that I fear too many institutions are being really backed into a corner
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out of the fear of any accusation of racism. I mean, look at Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach. I mean,
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they were so concerned about the impact of recruiting. They marched down to the state
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capitol in Mississippi to request a change in the flag because they thought it would impact the
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athletes they could bring on campus. At Oklahoma State University, Mike Van Gundy wore a One America
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News shirt and had to come out and apologize for the shirt he wore fishing. I think we all know you
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don't wear your favorite shirt fishing. You wear the one you figure you're going to get some blood and
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guts and bait and fish scales on. But he wears the OAN shirt. It's apparently, you know, this,
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this tragedy that he's done. So when he has to come out and apologize for it at Liberty University,
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here's my hot take. They've built up a very substantial endowment. They have remarkable
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facilities. They have good coaches. They have a highly competitive product. They have dedicated
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students and fans. They're going to find athletes because here's the honest truth that a lot of people
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just don't want to talk about. If you're a high-end division one top tier athlete, oftentimes you are
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motivated on where to go based on who is offering you the most money. And I'm not talking about
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scholarship money. I'm talking about the money that we all know changes hands in major college athletics.
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Now, I have no basis to believe that Liberty University has done this, but I mean, come on.
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Every major program is paying college football players and college basketball players. Some are doing
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it through different means. Some are doing it through alumni. Some are doing it through coaches.
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Some are doing it with knowledge of the university. Some are doing it without explicit knowledge of
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the university. But everyone knows that these student athletes are getting paid. And so as long
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as there's money at Liberty University, they're going to get athletes. And you know what? Why not?
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I hope that the, I root for the kids. I hope the kids get as much money as they can get. I mean,
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they're the ones that are building value. And in America, you ought to keep the value that you build.
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But I do think that this piece by slate.com is largely intended to smear a Christian university.
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I hope that all students are treated fairly in all of the environments that they encounter.
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And I'm sure that Liberty University will have a highly competitive product
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Is the HBO series Ballers coming true in real life? In the HBO series,
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the character that Rock Johnson, Dwayne the Rock Johnson plays, is attempting to
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buy a football team for a good amount of the series. And in real life, the Rock appears to have bought
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the XFL, an entire football league. That's right. So the XFL basically goes under April 10th. They lay off
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their entire staff. They blame coronavirus, though I'm not entirely sure how economically successful
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the XFL was prior to coronavirus. But nonetheless, they say coronavirus is the reason they have to
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shutter. They declare bankruptcy. And there was about to be an auction for the, the XFL league.
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And according to Sports Illustrated's Chris Chavez, Dwayne the Rock Johnson and his ownership group
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bring the only qualifying bid. So the bankruptcy court still has to approve this. But the Rock
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essentially buys this with his partners for 15 million bucks. I mean, a bargain basement price. I
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mean, you, you couldn't get a really good quarterback in the NFL for one year for 15 million bucks.
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Yeah, maybe you could get one for, for about that amount, but you certainly couldn't field
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a team. You certainly couldn't buy the league. And here you've got, I think the Rock in a pretty strong
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position to build a brand here. He's a guy who certainly knows how to build one, but here's the
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kicker. The Rock's partner in buying this is his ex-wife. Can you believe that? He gets married,
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gets divorced and then teams up with his ex-wife to buy the XFL. So I guess it's a, it's hopeful
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potentially for everyone out there who has an ex that they would like a more productive economic or
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business or friendship based relationship with it. You know, if the Rock can go out there and buy
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a football league with his ex, you could probably get along with yours. And that's a pretty compelling
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from a guy who has mastered wrestling, mastered a substantial amount of the entertainment world
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on the silver screen with movies and now out there in business and athletics as well. Do you smell what
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the Rock is cooking? I sure do. And it sounds like his ex-wife will be for quite some time.
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Tonight on HBO, 9 PM Eastern, The Swamp premieres, a documentary that follows calendar gear 2019 with
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myself and Congressman Thomas Massey, Congressman Ken Buck with special appearances by Ro Khanna,
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John Sarbanes and former Congresswoman Katie Hill. I think folks are going to like the documentary.
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We talk honestly and earnestly about the corruption in Washington DC, the extent to which the decisions
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made by the body are really not even made by the representatives to the body. They're largely made
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by the special interests, lobbyists and political action committees that fund the largesse of the
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political industrial complex with campaigns that are growing ever more combative and expensive and
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reliant on funds that don't just come from an individual or two, or even many individuals,
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but that come from these concentrations of power through corporate political action committees,
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ideological political action committees, leadership committees where members are able to raise special
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interest money and give it to one another. There is a debate in the movie about HR1, which was the bill
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by John Sarbanes and Nancy Pelosi to, in theory, clean up bad money in our good politics. The problem with HR1
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is that it creates a system whereby taxpayers have to fund campaigns, even if they don't agree with them.
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See, I think that any movement should be able to mobilize supporters and donors and participants without
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compulsory attendance in the political process. I mean, part of the freedom of our politics is also
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the ability to be free from politics, if you so choose. And so I don't think that taxpayer funding
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of political campaigns, I don't think that taxpayer funding of those robocalls or mailers or television
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ads really aligns with American politics because we ought to be able to go out and do what Bernie Sanders does or
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or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or myself or any number of other people who get their donations directly from
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the people and who then serve without the sword of Damocles of some special interest group hanging over
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your head. So again, I support congressional reform. I think we absolutely need reform to the campaign
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finance process. But for me, that does not mean taxpayer funding of things that annoy taxpayers. And that's
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political communications from politicians. Watch HBO tonight, The Swamp. You're going to love it.
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I bet you'll never guess the next victim of the cancel culture, yoga. Are we too woke for yoga in society?
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The Thought Bubble magazine thinks so. It says that yoga needs to be de-gentrified. It needs to be
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de-colonialized. I did not view yoga as a colonial endeavor, but apparently it is. The Thought Bubble magazine
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making the argument that companies like Nike and Lululemon have made a lot of money off of yoga
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without understanding its true inner peace and without understanding that this has been a
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colonializing, gentrifying experience to embrace yoga. Now, I will confess, most of the people that
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I know that are obsessed with yoga are white women. Does that mean yoga is colonial? Does that mean
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it's gentrified? I don't know. But if you think that yoga is unacceptable because too many white
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women have adopted it, wait till you see what they've done to avocados and avocado toast.
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Thanks so much for listening to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gates. Make sure you are
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subscribed to our podcast on whatever your listening platform is so that each and every
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day you are up to date regarding the ongoings of Washington, D.C. Tune in tomorrow. I'll be back with more Hot Takes.